So Much Blue
AuthorPercival Everett
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreComing of age
PublisherGraywolf Press
Publication date
2017
Pages242
ISBN9781555977825
OCLC957021362

So Much Blue is a novel by American writer Percival Everett first published in 2017 by Graywolf Press.

The novel follows an American abstract painter Kevin Pace as a "coming of middle-age"[1] story as he reflects on three different periods in his life. Living in the Northeast, Kevin works on a large secret painting dominated by the color blue and struggles to reconcile with the events of his past.

The novel has been received as one of Percival's best works, and it has been praised for its realism, simplicity, and tasteful execution of literary tropes.

Summary

Kevin Pace is a 56-year old African-American abstract painter living in Martha's Vineyard, a Massachusetts island. He has achieved some success with his art and lives a comfortable life, he but feels ambivalent about his career. He feels distant from his family, particularly his wife, Linda, and has never allowed them to see a secret painting he keeps in his workspace, a barn outside his house, a painting he plans to destroy if he should die.

Kevin begins to reflect back on three separate events in his life: in 1979, in his early 20s Kevin joins his best friend, Richard, in looking for his brother, Tad, who has gone missing in El Salvador.

In his 40s, while a happily married father of two, Kevin embarks on an affair in Paris with Victoire, a young watercolourist, half his age.

In his home life, when his children are teenagers, Kevin's daughter confesses she is pregnant and urges him not to tell her mother.

While in El Salvador Kevin comes to realize that he has accidentally arrived in the country while it is descending into war. While travelling the countryside looking for Tad he and Richard come across the body of a murdered child and help her father bury it. Shortly after finding Tad, who was in the country trying to buy drugs, the three men try to leave. However while waiting for Richard to pick up his passport Kevin is attacked by a soldier and accidentally murders him in self defense.

In Paris, Kevin confesses the secret of what happened in El Salvador to Victoire. He also allows himself to be emotionally open with Victoire telling her he loves her while realizing he has never loved Linda. He abruptly cuts off their affair when his son Will gets sick and he returns home.

Later in life while his children are in their teens, he keeps April's secret only for it to be revealed when she miscarries at home. Both Linda and April are furious that Kevin did not tell Linda about the pregnancy. Kevin decides to return to El Salvador where he manages to track down the father of the young girl he buried. He finds the event cathartic and returns home finally showing Linda the secret painting he has kept from her for years.

Characters

  • Kevin Pace - African-American abstract painter living in the Northeast in an "very arty and New Englandy" home. He is a recovering alcoholic and distant father, and he grapples with his past in El Salvador and Paris.
  • Linda Pace - Kevin's wife, mother of his two children who grounds him to his life in the U.S.
  • Richard - Kevin's best friend and retired Beowulf scholar, who Kevin accompanies to El Salvador in search of Richard's brother Tad.
  • Victoire - young, seductive watercolorist living in Paris. She has an affair with Kevin despite knowing about his marriage and being in a relationship herself.
  • Bummer - sociopathic, Vietnam vet and war criminal turned mercenary living in El Salvador. He is employed by Kevin and Richard to help them search for Tad. He is shot dead by Nicaraguan drug dealers working with Tad.
  • April Pace - Kevin's daughter and oldest child. She becomes pregnant at 16 and confides in Kevin making him promise not to tell Linda.
  • Will Pace - Kevin's son. When he was young, he was close with his father but as he started to get older they became more distant. He cares a lot for his sister April despite their fights.

Reception

So Much Blue received widespread acclaim. NPR called it "one of Everett's best books to date".[2] Kirkys praised Everett's "deft plotting and wry wit".[3] Vulture called it "a quietly beguiling novel".[4]

References

  1. ↑ Muyumba, Walton (June 9, 2017). "Percival Everett's 'So Much Blue' takes on art and secrets — and he doesn't have the broad audience his writing deserves". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  2. ↑ Schaub, Michael (June 13, 2017). "'So Much Blue' Is Percival Everett's Best Yet". NPR. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  3. ↑ "So Much Blue". Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  4. ↑ Lorentzen, Christian (June 2, 2017). "Percival Everett's So Much Blue Is Winding and Beguiling". Vulture. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
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